Nanaimo residents concerned after video catches suspected arson – BC

Residents of a neighbourhood in Nanaimo, B.C., say they are concerned after video captured someone appearing to set a fire in tinder-dry conditions intentionally.

A resident shared with Global News a surveillance video of a man walking in the Wisteria area on Saturday, July 27.

The video shows him stopping in the alley and then seconds later, smoke can be seen rising high above the fence.

Neighbours sounded the alarm and quickly rushed to put out the fire, but they say this is the third fire set in recent weeks in the area.

They are worried about what could happen if a fire burns out of control.

“You got family, you got kids around here that your fear and your frustration starts building because it’s like, when’s it going to be our house or, like, my neighbours’ yesterday?” resident Les Girard told Global News.

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Kevan Shaw with the Nanaimo-Area Public Safety Association said it was lucky that no houses burned this time.

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“But we have to do more to make sure that garbage, that shopping carts, that they are removed quickly so that they are not then lit on fire,” he said.

Residents say they love their community but are becoming increasingly concerned about safety issues.

Nanaimo RCMP said the incident has not been reported to them yet and therefore, they are not able to comment on it.

Mayor Leonard Krog said the city is doing everything it can.

“We have done everything in our jurisdiction,” he said.

“But to the citizen to whom this is an important issue and that is indeed a great number of our citizens, for heaven’s sakes a provincial election is coming, this is a vote-determining issue for you.”

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